Emilia Yumi Kasamatsu (also known as “Emi”) was born and raised in La Colmena, Paraguay. La Colmena was the first Japanese colony in Paraguay. Her father was a prominent figure in the colony as an organizer and administrator. Emi has fond memories of a strict education that was a mix of Japanese and Paraguayan ideals. Her education provided an understanding of future aspirations and projections of her adult life in the capital of Paraguay. Kasamatsu graduated from the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras with a Bachelor in Literature, and received her postgraduate degree in Gender and Development at the Universidad Nacional de Asunción (UNA). She has published a variety of books on the topic of Japanese immigration into Paraguay and the Americas, which are written in the Spanish language and translated into Japanese and English: La presencia japonesa en el Paraguay (1987), La historia de la Asociación Panamericana Nikkei presencia e inmigración japonesas en las Americas (2005) (bilingual editions: Spanish and English); Edited by Akemi Kikumura: New World, New Lives (2002) and Encyclopedia of Japanese Descendants in the Americas (2002) in English and Japanese. Emi Kasamatsu is President of the Centro Social de Beneficencia Japonesa in Paraguay (2006-2008) and the first Vice President of the Asociación Paraguayo Japonesa (2005-2008). She was President of Centro Nikkei Paraguayo (an association of the Nisei in Paraguay) and the 6th Convención Panamericana Nikkei. Kasamatsu was delegate of Paraguay between 1987-2007. She is Vice Director of the Paraguayan Japanese Center for the Development of Human Resources, and is involved with the Academic and Cultural Coordination. (May 23, 2007)